City’s fourth Hampton hotel rising near Sunport

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Hampton Inn & Suites, a midpriced brand under the Hilton umbrella of hotels, is returning to the airport area with construction of a four-story, 88-room hotel at 1300 Woodward SE, off Sunport Boulevard.

The 60,500-square-foot project is being built by Laxmi Management, an investment group headed by Yogash Kumar of Hospitality Management Services in Gallup. A Gallup city councilor and well known in the state’s tourism sector, Kumar also is involved in the renovation of an older hotel on the West Side.

The hotel’s construction cost is $5.65 million, according to the city building permit.

The new Hampton Inn will replace the previous one at 2231 Yale SE, now an AmericInn. The Yale property lost the Hampton Inn brand because its rooms have exterior room doors, which are no longer a feature of Hampton Inns, Kumar said.

“As far as quality, it was nice and well run,” he said.

Hotels near airports cater primarily to business clientele during the week as well as general travelers, Kumar said. A bonus at Albuquerque’s airport is its proximity to the University of New Mexico’s sports facilities, thus generating occupancy from sports fans attending games on weekends, he said.

The new hotel on Woodward will include 30 two-room suites and Hampton Inn’s standard amenities like a hot breakfast, indoor pool, hot tub, high-speed Internet access and fitness center. It will create about 25 permanent jobs, Kumar said.

There are three other Hampton Inns in Albuquerque, including a 79-room hotel completed late last year near the Jefferson and Interstate 25 interchange.

The two new Hampton Inns in Albuquerque are indicative of a general turnaround in the hospitality sector, Kumar said.

“A lot of people were hesitant to build after the recession. There was a lot of consolidation,” he said. “The outlook is better for the next two years.”